AOE Saga: The Hearts of Monsters
by Cydra
Summary: The bodies of monsters have many different shapes. Their minds are differently twisted. But what about their hearts?
1. Bitter Relation

AOE Saga:

The Hearts of Monsters

Chapter 1: Bitter Relation

NegaMorph was walking through the hallways. He was going stir-crazy for lack of excitement. When he and Virustoxico was blasted out of the laboratory base, they were fortunate enough to find a wormhole that led them back to Emperor Hamsterviel's headquarters. What exact dimension was it in, NegaMorph wasn't sure. Virustoxico introduced NegaMorph to Emperor Hamsterviel as soon as they had arrived. Hamsterviel was shocked by what had happened to his Shadow Clones and was even more surprised at what NegaMorph looked like underneath his trench coat and fedora. NegaMorph was ordered never to appear in front of Emperor Hamsterviel without his coat and hat. It didn't matter really; NegaMorph almost never takes off his disguise. He couldn't stand the sight of his disconfigured form. He blamed Morph for this and ached to destroy him.

He heard a noise in front of him. He looked up and saw Commander Silvia in front of him. She was in her battle armor like always but she had her helmet off. NegaMorph once heard that she was created with a prototype of the EXP Virus. That may be the reason that she had the height and figure of a human. However the exposed head was clearly that of an experiment. It resembled Angel's head except that it was purple instead of pink. She wore her antennas along with most of her hair in a long ponytail. Silvia was leaning casually against the wall. "Well look what the cat threw up," she said. NegaMorph paused and said, "And yet it's still better looking than you are." Silvia ignored the comment and said, "I still don't see why they haven't scraped you yet. You're obviously a complete failure." "Me, a failure?" said NegaMorph. "If you want to see a failed experiment, go look in a mirror." NegaMorph continued on his way until Silvia said, "Speaking of mirrors, I heard that it was Morph's Reverse and Reflect attack that did this to you." NegaMorph stopped dead in his tracks. Silvia continued, "I find it hard to believe. Seven Shadow Clones against seven experiments, six of them paralyzed. And yet they were all defeated by the weakest one of them." NegaMorph ground the teeth in his several mouths and said, "Well at least I'm more powerful. I nearly defeated them all." "Until the Traveler used you to practice his pitching," finished Silvia. She stretched and said, "My powers would have been able to deal with them all. My lightning blasts would have fried them and with my tracking abilities I could have been able to find and destroy which ever one I wanted." NegaMorph spun around and growled, "There's nothing wrong with my tracking. I may not have a nose in the right place, but it could still pick up the scent of any of those trogs." NegaMorph took a few quick sniffs and said, "In fact, I smell a really bad mutant right now and it isn't me." Silvia dismissed the insult and started walking away, "Boast all you want, but I'm still superior to you." NegaMorph's rage was getting near its boiling stage. His Envy power made him yell, "At least I'm superior to you in one way; I have free will while you're bound to the word of Hamsterviel." Silvia stopped walking and stood still. NegaMorph knew he hit her weak point. He continued, "I bet fighting isn't the only thing you have to do." Here he made his voice sound like Hamsterviel's. "Silvia, I'm feeling dirty, give me a sponge bath. Silvia, my throne room is a mess, go clean it." NegaMorph switched back to his normal voice and said, "Face it Silvia, you're nothing but his hand puppet." He broke off into evil laughing. His laughing stopped when a blue blast of electricity hit him straight in the head. When he regenerated his head, he saw that Silvia was facing him now, her eyes alive with fury. "I fought several hundreds of Resistance soldiers and defeated them for Hamsterviel," she shouted. "But you can't even win a fight against a blob with the IQ of a slug!" NegaMorph drew himself up to his full height and said, "I haven't been around as long as you so I don't have as many victories as you. But at least I haven't had as many defeats as you, like to a particular soldier named Chris for example." That was the last straw. "I can destroy Chris with one hand behind my back!" yelled Silvia. "And I can destroy you with both of them behind my back!" "Let's finish this in the arena," growled NegaMorph, who was still steaming from the insults. "We will! And when I'm done, there won't be enough of you left to clone a cell from!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What will happen next? Who will win this fight? Stay tuned to find out.


	2. NegaMorph vs Silvia

AOE Saga: The Hearts of Monsters

Chapter 2: NegaMorph vs. Silvia

Word spread quickly about Silvia and NegaMorph's duel. Several of the workers who didn't have anything to do were heading towards the observation deck in the arena. Meanwhile Dr. Johnson and Virustoxico were working in the lab on new laser weapons for the robots. They heard a commotion in the hallway and turned around. Grunts heading past the door of the lab in great haste. "What's going on there?" demanded Dr. Johnson. One of the grunts paused and said; "Commander Silvia and NegaMorph are having a duel in the arena. It's a battle to the death." Dr. Johnson and Virustoxico gave each other one look and quickly followed. The arena was just like the one in the laboratory base, except bigger and had more observation decks. The observation decks were quickly being filled with spectators. In the arena, stood NegaMorph and Commander Silvia. NegaMorph had discarded his trench coat and fedora to allow him to fight without tripping over himself. Silvia was wearing a lighter battle armor for more maneuverability. Virustoxico quickly activated the starting lights. The lights flashed for a few seconds before turning green.

Silvia and NegaMorph flew at each other with out-stretched claws. They started off by using their martial art training. The spectators were going wild with excitement. Very soon bets were being made on who would made. Dr Johnson was watching with interest. "Don't you think we should stop this before they destroy each other? Emperor Hamsterviel will need them." Virustoxico was busy chalking up the amount of money put in the bets. "_Are you crazy?_" "**We're making a fortune on this.**" The fight was getting fiercer now that the combatants were using their projectile powers. NegaMorph had Silvia outgunned but she kept weaving through the attacks. Silvia hammered NegaMorph close to the wall. NegaMorph got an idea and waited for the next attack. When Silvia threw another punch at him, NegaMorph literally flattened against the wall. Silvia hit NegaMorph but the wall absorbed the shock. Silvia clutched her hand in pain. NegaMorph leapt off the wall and onto Silvia's head. He was trying to drown her in his plasma. Silvia quickly used her lightning bolts to blast NegaMorph into pieces. He quickly regenerated and waited for Silvia to attack again. She flung her fist at him and he made it sink into his body. She tried to pull her hand out but it was stuck. "Let go of me or I'll punch you again!" she yelled. NegaMorph ignored the threat and she smacked him with her other fist, which got stuck too. She gave a kick with both of her legs and they became stuck. Finally she butted him with her head and got completely stuck. NegaMorph then glued her to the floor. "It looks like I win," said NegaMorph as he raised his tail to lash down at Silvia.

Then NegaMorph felt something throbbing in his chest. A second later, a blinding pain came into his head. NegaMorph screamed with the pain and slithered off of Silvia. He banged his head against the walls to try to stop the pain but it wouldn't stop. He was clutching his head with all of his arms and was staggering around. Silvia managed to get herself unstuck and prepared to strike NegaMorph. But she saw that he was still in pain and paused. Something told her that it wouldn't be right to strike at him when he was like this. But that wasn't the way she usually thought. She prepared to attack again but a wave of sympathy for the screaming monster swept over her. She lowered her arms and stood back as NegaMorph lurched towards her. He wanted to kill her but the more he thought about doing it, the more the thing in his chest throbbed and the pain got worse. Finally he abandoned the idea and the throbbing and pain stopped. The spectators were yelling for Silvia and NegaMorph to finish the fight but then a furry face popped onto the main viewing screen. "What is going on here?" yelled Hamsterviel. "What is all this racket." Everyone stopped moving and yelling. Hamsterviel looked at the spectators in the observation decks and then at Silvia and NegaMorph in the arena. "Whatever it was you looking at, it's over now," he said to the spectators in the observation decks. "Now get back to work!" The spectators quickly left the observation decks and went back to their posts. Then Hamsterviel turned his attention to Silvia and NegaMorph. I want you two in my throne room as soon as possible!" he yelled and logged off the screen. Silvia and NegaMorph looked at each other. "Boy, are we in trouble now," said NegaMorph. "What do you mean 'we?'" said Silvia.

What happened to NegaMorph? Why did Silvia take pity on him? What does Hamsterviel want with the two of them? Find out tomorrow in the next update. Please review.


	3. Shallow Heart, Deep Hatred

AOE Saga: The Hearts of Monsters

Chapter 3: Shallow Heart, Deep Hatred

NegaMorph and Silvia quickly reported to Emperor Hamsterviel's throne room. Hamsterviel was sitting on his throne. He looked down at NegaMorph and Silvia and said, "I have been looking at the recordings of your fight. You two were both trying to kill each other out of hatred. I have only one question for you." "What is it?" said Silvia. "Why didn't you do it?" "Huh?" said NegaMorph. "You both had each other in a helpless position where you could have killed each other but you didn't do it. Of course, one of your deaths will have troubled me quite a bit but I still demand to know why." "I would have killed Silvia," said NegaMorph. "If it hadn't been for this stupid thing in my chest." "What thing in your chest?" asked Hamsterviel. "When I tried to kill Silvia, something in my chest started throbbing and cause a blinding pain in my head. And it wouldn't stop until I stopped thinking about killing Silvia." Hamsterviel nodded and pointed at Silvia. "Now you tell me." Silvia tried to think of the right words to say, "I wanted to slay NegaMorph when I had the chance. But when I saw him in so much pain I felt, um, sorry for him." NegaMorph and Hamsterviel gave Silvia incredulous looks. "'Sorry for him?'" said Hamsterviel. "You hated him and you felt sorry for him when he was in pain." "It's just that I haven't seen anyone so pathetic and weak." NegaMorph gave Silvia a glare. "Whom are you calling pathetic and weak?" he said. Hamsterviel said, "Enough! NegaMorph, I order you to go the lab and find out what' s wrong with you. Silvia, you go training until you get this 'sympathy' out of your system." NegaMorph and Silvia both bowed their heads in acknowledgement and left the throne room. Once they left, Hamsterviel made a worried face. "Silvia's brainwashing starting to wear thin," he muttered to himself. "I'd better renew it before she starts getting unwanted memories."

In the lab, several machines were scanning NegaMorph. Dr. Johnson was looking over the procedure. Finally a sheet of paper came out of one of the machines. Dr. Johnson turned off the scanners. NegaMorph put his coat and hat on and said, "So what's the problem, Doc?" Johnson winced with annoyance and read the paper, "It seems that everything is fine about you. There's just this little matter about your heart." "I don't have a heart," said NegaMorph. "Plasma creatures don't have circulatory systems." "You're correct about the circulatory system," said Dr. Johnson. "But you do have a heart." "What are you talking about?" asked NegaMorph. NegaMorph pressed a few buttons on the computer. An X-ray of NegaMorph appeared on the screen. In the middle of NegaMorph's chest was a small heart-shaped object. "That's your heart," said Dr. Johnson, pointing at the thing in the middle of the X-ray. "It appears that it acts as a conscience, preventing you from doing great acts of evil. Such as killing." "How did that get there?" NegaMorph demanded. "I'm pure evil. I was created from the fusion of seven Shadow Clones, each one had a Deadly Sin power." "It might be because the fusion was an accident so you weren't created to be evil. Also, Morph's Reverse and Reflect attack might have reversed some of the negativity in Shadow Morph." NegaMorph's eyes flared, "Curse that Morph!" he shouted. "First he mutates me and makes me hideous! Now he's given me a conscience! There's nothing I'd like more that to rend his DNA into tiny little pieces!" NegaMorph felt a throbbing in his chest and his head began to ache again. NegaMorph grabbed his head and started groaning. "Stop thinking about that!" yelled Dr. Johnson. NegaMorph forced the thought out of his mind and the pain stopped. "Your heart reacts whenever you think murderous thoughts," explained Dr. Johnson. "If don't stop, it will deconstruct your DNA back into plasma." NegaMorph snapped his mouths and started heading towards the door. "Where are you going?" asked Dr. Johnson. "To get some fresh air," replied NegaMorph as went through the door.

Outside NegaMorph pondered his condition. He was created without intention so he was actually created to be evil. Logically he should be totally evil. But his heart was interfering with that. That heart was very strange. The X-ray showed that it was half the size of a rabbit's, was cardboard thin, and virtually dead. But it started beating when NegaMorph thought about killing. This caused severe pain in his head, where the thoughts were coming from. Does this mean that NegaMorph was supposed to be good? No, impossible, NegaMorph was born on the side of evil and will stay there. However this situation reminded NegaMorph of a song he heard once and he couldn't help but hum a few bars.

I walk a lonely road,

The only road I've ever known.

Don't know where it goes,

But it's home to me

And I walk alone.

I walk this empty street,

On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Where the city sleeps

And I'm the only one

And I walk alone.

I walk alone.

I walk alone.

I walk alone.

I walk alone.

My shadow's the only

One that walks beside me.

My shallow heart's the only

Thing that's beating.

Someday I wish

Someone out there will find me.

Till then I walk alone.

NegaMorph's musing was interrupted by a familiar voice. "Hey NegaMorph, Emperor Hamsterviel wants us." NegaMorph turned around and saw Commander Silvia. "Come on, he said it's urgent." She went back inside and NegaMorph followed her.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A new chapter's up today, a new chapter will be up tomorrow. The song is Greenday's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." Please review.


	4. Pest Control

AOE Saga: The Hearts of Monsters

Chapter 4: Pest Control

Silvia and NegaMorph arrived in the throne room and were surprised to see that Virustoxico was there too. Emperor Hamsterviel was sitting on his throne like usual. "I have a special assignment for you three," he said. "**_Four_,**" said Virustoxico. "Huh?" "**_We're actually two individuals, remember?_**" "Whatever," said Hamsterviel. "There had been Resistance movement on a small planet in Dimension-R9. I need you three to go there and show them my power. Silvia, you're in charge of destruction. Virustoxico, you're in charge with capturing. NegaMorph, you're in charge of EXP Virus infecting." "You're expecting us to work together right?" said Silvia. "Yes," said Hamsterviel. Protest were made a second later. "Enough! I'm not paying you to argue about who your partners are; I'm paying you to conquer and spread mayhem. Or perhaps I should throw all four of you through the Fusion Gate." All protesting stopped instantly. "Good and when you're done with that planet, I've heard that some goody, two-shoe Timesplitter scientists are working on something very important. I want you to capture the ship they are on and whatever project they're doing." All four of them saluted and left the throne room.

Soon afterwards, the Resistance Extermination Patrol, (R.E.P.) had landed near the source of Resistance activity on the small planet. Silvia was leading the robots through the city, destroying several buildings and a few people of no significance. Virustoxico was leading troops that were capturing suspicious people, petrifying a few of them. NegaMorph was spreading the EXP Virus throughout the city. Finally the location of the Resistance base was discovered. Several Resistance soldiers were captured, destroyed, or turned into either adamantanium or an experiment. But some of them managed to escape.

Silvia was walking through one of the hallways in the building when she heard something behind one of the doors. Behind it were some children and an adult woman who were looking over them. They huddled with fear against the opposite wall. Silvia scanned them; they carried no weapons, they had no strength, and their intellect was questionable. They were completely harmless. Silvia felt sympathy inside of her again along with the feeling that shooting these children would be wrong. She moved out of the doorway and said, "If you want to escape, get to the escape pods before I change my mind." The children and the woman quickly left.

Meanwhile, NegaMorph was going through the building, infecting everyone with the EXP Virus. He was looking for more victims when he heard a cry. He slithered to another room where he found a Resistance soldier with half of his right leg pinned underneath a small pile of metal sheets. He would be free soon but until then he was helpless. NegaMorph bared the teeth in the mouth he had instead of a right hand and prepared to bite. Then an idea occurred to him. He could destroy this soldier instead. His body looked weak so won't be very useful as an experiment. NegaMorph opened his mouth wider and started charging up the plasma blast he was about to launch. Then the throbbing sensation in his chest started again. Then the pain in his head started. He grabbed his head with all of his arms. The soldier looked puzzled at the screaming monster. Then NegaMorph managed to say, "Get out of here now." NegaMorph felt that this was to goody-goody so he added, "Or else." The soldier hastened to release himself and leave the room. Once the soldier was gone, NegaMorph could release his murderous thoughts. He growled with frustration and left the room.

Later, Silvia, Virustoxico, and NegaMorph were in the control room of their ship and leaving the planet with a cargo bay full of adamantanium statues and evil experiments. Virustoxico had learned about what had happened to Silvia and NegaMorph. "**_We don't really blame you NegaMorph,_**" said Virustoxico. "**_We suppose it's partially my fault. When we created Shadow Morph, we only had EnigMorph's DNA to work with. And shadow cloning EnigMorph is like trying to create your own miniature star; an almost inevitable disaster. We had to work with only PlasMorph's gene instead. The only power that gene had was regeneration and the Tech-Pack. So possibly, the only thing that's missing from you is PlasMorph's actual DNA. That's the reason that heart's messing with you._**" NegaMorph pondered about this. The possibility never occurred to him. This gave him even more of a reason to get Morph. Then Virustoxico turned to Silvia. "**_But you're a different story. You willing chose to show mercy. NegaMorph's forced._**" Virustoxico floated towards the door. They stopped before they went through. "**_In fact, we don't think you have the heart to destroy anymore._**" Silvia turned towards Virustoxico and said, "Are you saying I'm going soft?" "**_Like a custard._**" If Virustoxico were looking at Silvia, they would have known that the angry look on her face meant instant trouble.

Very soon after that, Virustoxico was chained to the outside of the ship, uncomfortably close to the engines. They were yelling at top of their voices, "**_Silvia, stop! Wait! We take it back! You're not going soft! You're hardcore! You're hardcore!_**" In the control room, Silvia and NegaMorph were at the controls. "Shall we do a few loop-the-loops before we find the Timesplitters?" said NegaMorph. "Only if we get to do a couple of spirals first," said Silvia.

To be continued…

That's it for this story. Be alert for the next addition of the AOE saga. Please review.


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